Tobacco-hanger



(No-Model.)

W. J. SGULTHORP.

TOBACCO HANGER.

,727. Patented Feb.v 28. 188B.

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NVALTER JONES SCULTHORP, OF GOLUMBIAN GROVE, ASSIGNOR OF ONE- HALF TO CHARLES M. HARDY, OF WATTSBOROUGH, VIRGINIA.

SPECIFICATIN forming pari: of Letters Patent No. 378,727, dated February 28, 1888.

l Application filed August 27, i887. Serial No. 248,069. (No model.)

To aZZ whom t may concern:

Be it known that I, WALTER JONES SCUL- THORP, a citizen of the United States, residing at Columbian Grove, in the county of Lunenburg and State of Virginia, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Tobacco- Hangers; and I do declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the in vention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the saine, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, and to the letters and figures of reference lnarked thereon, which form a part of this specification.

The object of this invention is to facilitate the handling and curing of tobacco.

There are various well-known ways of curing tobacco-leaves, one process being to string the leaves on wires attached to a sticlgwhich bunches theleaves during the process ofcnring, and consequently the heat is not evenly dis tributed among them, which prevents an even color being obtained; also, in the old process of yellowing tobacco, the tobacco being hung unevenlyin the barn causes a sweat to take place,and also causes the tobacco to spoil or turn red before it ean'be dried off. Vith niy invention this is entirely obviated, as the leaves are all hung separately and evenly distributed on the stick or hanger, and by its peculiar and novel construction the leaves cannot come in contact with each other.

In my invention I break the yellow or ripe leaves as they yellow or ripen on the stalk, and so am enabled to harvest all the leaves of the plant without waste and secure a yield of great uniformity. This is, however, not new ofitself. In order to render such a niode of harvesting` tobacco practicable, I have devised a new hanger of novel construction, which I will new proceed to set forth and claim.

In the accompanying drawings, in the several figures of which the several parts are similarly designated, Figure I is a plan view of my invention; Fig. 2, a side elevation of the same; Fig. 3, a cross-section showing the leaves iinpaled and the angle at which they are held by the peculiar construction of the pins and sides of the body-piece of the hanger.

strip of wood or other material, say four and a half feetlong, one and a quarter inch wide, and fiveeighths of an inch thick, having its two sides beveled toward the top, and is provided with about ninety pins or nails arranged along its eXtreme edges on both sides, as shown in Fig. l, about one inch apart and extending outwardly and upwardly from the bodypiece about one inch Along the center of the body is placed for convenience of handling when lled a handle consisting of one or two bowed pieces of wire or other suitable material.

Referring to Fig. 1, letter A represents the upper flat surface of the body-piece, letter B the beveled edges, letter O the handle, and letter D the pins, which are arranged alternately along opposite sides of the body-piece and pointed at their outer ends, Fig. 2 beingaside elevation of the same. Letter E, Fig. 3, shows two pins with the leaves irnpaled thereon and will illustrate the manner in which the leaves will hang with their broadest surfaces at right angles with the length of the body of hanger. In this way it will be readily seen that the leaves will be kept entirely apart and free from all contact with each other, which greatly as` sists in curing them properly and requires much less heat than in any process heretofore used.

In the barn I have a series of removable poles arranged horizontally and resting on suitablevcleats at each side of the barn about four feet apart to receive the hangers, before mentioned, as they are filled with the tobaceoleaves. These poles are arranged in tiers77 orlioors about two to three feet apart to the top of the building, although they can be ar ranged closer if the length of the leaves will admit of it, It is obvious that the top tiers will be filled rst and so downward.

rlhe operation is as follows: The leaves as they ripen are broken from the parent stem `and placed carefully in the wagon or in baskets, as desired) with their butts all one way. After being taken to the barn, the leaves are taken up, say six at a time, and iinpaled on the pins of my hanger, one on each pin,in such a manner that the pin will enter the side of 5o The body-piece of the hanger consists of a the stem or butt of the leaf and cause it to loo hang as shown in Fig. 3. rIlhis is done very rapidly, and after being filled they are handed up to be placed so that each end rests on one of the horizontal poles extending across the barn, each hanger being placed sufficiently far away from its neighbor to prevent contact of the leaves. The unripe leaves are left to ripen on the parent stem and are not eut until ripe, and by removing the ripe leaves from time to time the ripening of the others is hastened.

A much lower degree of temperature will be found to be sufficient to cure tobacco thus harvested than is usually employed7 and the color of the leaf when cured on my hanger will be much improved and more uniform than by the old methods heretofore employed.

Having thus fully described my invention above, what I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States, is

1. A tobacco-hanger consisting of abeveledsided body-piece provided with a handle and having pins secured thereto, said pins being set at an angle to the lines of the sides of the body-piece and secured tothe body-piece alternately on opposite sides, substantially as and for the purposes specified.

2. A tobacco-hanger consisting ofa bodypiece provided with a wire handle made in the shape of a loop, said body-piece being constructed with beveled sides and made widest at its bottom and provided with upwardly and outwardly inclined pointed pins, substantially as and for the purposes specified.

In testimony whereof` 1 afiix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

WV ALTER J ON ES SCULTHORP. `Witnessesz S.' A. TERRY, GEO. E. TERRY.. 

